We have a whole year reserved just for you!
Welcome to the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010. For one year the board of artists and the rest of the RUHR.2010 team have been working on the plans and ideas for the European Capital of Culture, combining them into one programme. One year after the publication of "Book One" and the relaunch of our internet presence in October 2008, we are now describing here in detail the programme of our cultural capital year, so you can take your pick of the events.
Change through Culture - Culture through Change! This is the continuous thread that weaves through our story, one that we will be using to tell Europe how the once largest coal mine on the Continent has been transformed into a symbol for change through culture. How the old Ruhr region has become the new Ruhr Metropolis.
This metropolitan area is unique, unconventional and a project in the making. It is made up of many centres and even more peripheries. It boasts urban innovations and idyllic scenery. It is full of remarkable contrasts and has a definite edge to it. Here the conventional and the odd rub against each other, which always makes for an interesting outcome. The typical way of life of the locals as well as the energy this region has to offer can be experienced through the varied cultural offerings of the Ruhr as one of Europe’s Capitals of Culture. Its attractive and its ugly side, high culture and the "Loveparade", local pub and Michelin star restaurant, allotment and landscape park, concert hall and football stadium are never far from each other, and so form a dynamic dialogue of differences.
The programme of this Capital of Culture is derived from and dedicated to the people and the contradictions of the region. The stories of the arts and of the many cultures, of visions for the future and of creative industries, of a landscape once destroyed by human hand and now being variously reinstated in other forms - these are the components that together make up the narrative of our cultural capital year. The programme will help broaden our horizons: life in a particular time and place extended into the past and the future.
The European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 has not set out to be a festival. It acts as a picture frame designed to give a clear structure to the picture which is developing within. Such a framework encourages high culture to thrive alongside popular pastimes. It offers space for people and developments and renders the concealed visible; it makes us aware of different aspects and presents them in a new light.
How does a region develop from industrial urban sprawl to cultural capital? How do people cope with change? How do they design their living spaces? How do they integrate new influences from foreign cultures? How can people be encouraged to embrace culture they would normally never encounter? These are the questions which form the basis of what RUHR.2010 is trying to achieve.
The Ruhr Metropolis has a unique advantage when it comes to being a European Capital of Culture: its potential is greatly underestimated. Apart from being well-known for its professional football clubs, to the outside world it is generally associated with a declining coal and steel industries, deteriorating towns, structural issues and a greatly damaged landscape. Only rarely is it thought of as a centre of culture. This lack of awareness is both undeserved and difficult to shake off, despite the lack of truth in such perceptions. The Ruhr Metropolis has more culture on offer within its relatively small geographical area than any other region in Europe: 120 theatres, 100 concert halls, 200 museums and over 1000 industrial monuments, many of which have become attractive cultural sites. However, the region does not rely on quantity alone. The theatres and music halls of Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Moers and Mülheim an der Ruhr (to name but a few) offer high-class entertainment year after year.
The same holds true for the large festivals: the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and the Ruhrtriennale. What the museums have on offer is worthy of any international capital. With their passion for the arts, they all play their part in contributing to the European Capital of Culture, both through their own programmes and in joint projects with RUHR.2010. The result is an amalgam capable of conveying to the whole world the cultural energy and wealth of ideas that can be found in the Ruhr Metropolis.
The Ruhr region boasts extraordinary variety and diversity, fed by thousands and thousands of small energy sources - all just as representative of and valuable to the cultural landscape of the Ruhr Metropolis as the contributions of the higher arts. Such cultural importance guarantees each such player a key role in the Capital of Culture programme.
It was Albert Camus who stated that the origin of every piece of art lies in a simple and deep emotion, and it is this concept that characterises the combined driving force behind the Capital of Culture. The Ruhr region is emotion epitomised. Emotion is the special ingredient that turns the story we are telling into something special. And this story is comprised of three central ideas: The Ruhr Mythology, Re-designing the Metropolis and Moving Europe. These are the headings covering the six primary topic areas. The Capital of Culture presents itself as a complex space for exploration and experimentation through the themes of Discovering Images, Changing Stages, Living Music, Exploring language, Boosting the Creative Industry and A Time to Celebrate.
Besides this structure focused on content and time, we have also created a spatial and touristic dimension. For this purpose, our diverse metropolis has been divided from East to West into five distinct areas. The central "hubs" of each area are the Visitor Centres in Duisburg, Oberhausen, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. Five cultural arteries run through the five areas, each marked by projects along the way: the River Ruhr, the Hellweg/A40, the River Emscher and the Rhine-Herne Canal, the A42 and the River Lippe.
A total of 2,300 programme suggestions were received, each passionately pleading its cause. Hence having to reject any of them has been a challenging task. However, even a Capital of Culture has its financial and organisational limits. 300 projects are now enriching the programme of the European Capital of Culture "Essen for the Ruhr Region". Success as a Capital of Culture can only be achieved through the efforts of many. Thankfully, the idea has attracted a large number of Supporters. Their commitment deserves great recognition, particularly in these economically turbulent times. The City of Essen as well as all other cities in the RuhR Regional Association, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the German Federal Government, the European Union and Private Companies have all made substantial financial contributions.
The people who support the Capital of Culture individually or as a group, those taking part in the Volunteer Programme of the Capital of Culture, and those involved in associations and institutions, in the churches, schools and universities, and not least the police force, the public authorities, the Disaster Relief Agency, as well as the Automobile Safety Association and many other organisations deserve equal recognition.
The media including newspapers, magazines, radio and television warrant similar praise. Through their committed, competent and critical approach to reporting, they have conveyed the idea of the European Capital of Culture to the people.
Together we are going to take this opportunity to give the Ruhr Metropolis the national and international attention it deserves.
Welcome one and all!